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VIII. Agrobiocoenoses and their zoocoenoses | 157
impacts; in the former, the crop rotation extends to the whole cultivated area.
The individual fields are essentially groups of oeci, i.e. sub-biotopes, with
characteristically different plant stands, and microclimate. The field edges
and the grassy-bushy borders of orchards often do not belong to the arvideserta,
and are not ruderal habitats either, but constitute undisturbed refugia of the
original plant cover.
We hardly know the zoocoenoses of the agrobiotopes; perhaps their fauna
is known but imperfectly; mostly those that specialise on various crop plants,
plus parasitoids and predators that play a role in their limitation to various
degrees. Therefore, a systematic analysis of agrozoocoenoses is premature;
thus, the following are no more than rudimentary and, hence, somewhat
daring sketches.
Although the populations of supersocion are dispersed among various
biotopes, there is a difference between arvideserta and agrilignosa, because
the former provides favourable conditions to species of mostly grassland
origin. Therefore, Arvicolaecion arvalis is common in areas under agricultural
cultivation, while Talpaecion europeae occurs in both arvideserta and
agrilignosa. The bird populations of the supersocion are, incomparably, more
species-rich from March to September than during winter when, in the
agrilignosa, one encounters a supersocion with flocks of tits, mixed with
woodpeckers, treecreepers and nuthatches, while flocks of crows walk the
bare fields of the arvideserta. In the place of breeding birds that depart in the
autumn, winter visitors fit into the supersocion. This supersocion also contains
obstants of small populations, such as the sparrowhawk, goshawk, owls, fox,
weasel, ferret, etc. Their zoocoenological relationships are scarcely known.
The members of the supersocion are very mobile, roaming over a large area;
fragments of their populations only reside in one place for no longer than a
period of an aspect.
The presocia of arvideserta and those of agrilignosa differ more sharply,
because the former is mostly herbaceous, while the latter contains mainly
woody elements. The most constant presocia of arvideserta are the soil-living
populations, from which Agrioticium or Anisoplisecium is formed, with species
representations of Agriotes, Anisoplia, Melolontha, Rhizotrogus, Dorcadion
spp. etc. The larval semaphoront group of Agriotes is often of clumped
distribution, forming a characteristic Agriotidicium segetis. The Dociostauricium
maroccani, forming on grazing lands, often extends to arvideserta, and, above
them, the starling and the white stork are members of the supersocion.
In relation to the presocia on grazing land, studies by Nagy (1944, 1947,
1950) provide remarkable guidance, even if these are restricted to ecofaunistical
studies of Saltatoria. Similarstudies were made by Marchand (1953) on the
Saltatoria and Hemiptera fauna of various types of meadows. Both authors
examined only a part of the zoon, and indicated an important effect of the
microclimate (“even in the food specialists... the effect of food or availability
of egg-laying sites is overshadowed by the dependence on microclimate”